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Putin risked the possibility of nuclear war in Crimea already, as well as the lives of his undefended and unmarked troops. That means, strategically, using simple Prisoner's dilemma game theory, only a similar willingness to risk such a thing on the part of the US can secure Ukraine from Russian tanks.
Well put.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Apr 4th, 2014 at 04:36:30 AM EST
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I see nuclear war having been mentioned a few times in this discussion. Frankly, I'm puzzled where it comes from. Nukes starting raining down because of Russia's takeover of Crimea? Sorry, I simply don't buy it.
by aquilon (albaruthenia at gmail dot com) on Sat Apr 5th, 2014 at 11:29:08 AM EST
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How I agree.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sat Apr 5th, 2014 at 03:18:13 PM EST
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I almost agree. Obama is either a pragmatist or simply doesn't care. Therefore, no nuke threats.

But that wouldn't have been true of President Palin, or some other future president of a similar stripe.

I wouldn't be surprised if Putin considered the US election cycle in his calculations.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Wed Apr 16th, 2014 at 09:06:04 AM EST
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Well, I'm positive that was the case. Actually, even on the right fringes of GOP there has been no audible talk so far, about direct military support for Ukraine, let alone a nuclear strike. President Palin? As long as independent votes are a majority in the U.S., this is an unlikely scenario, even considering the two-step election process. The current GOP polls leader Rand Paul has seemingly inherited some libertarian genes from his father, and doesn't look inclined to get the nation too actively involved in European affairs this far to the East.
by aquilon (albaruthenia at gmail dot com) on Fri Apr 18th, 2014 at 12:54:08 PM EST
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